 |
| The Death of Seneca, by Peter Paul Rubens, c.1614, Alte Pinakothek, Munich (Photo: Twitter) |
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."
- Seneca
A tweet saying this got me into the world of Seneca, a man who was born before Jesus Christ and seemed a more towering figure than the Son of God during their times in Rome.
Another quote of his is often reproduced in cards travelling on social media. "We suffer more in imagination than in reality."
Seneca was a stoic, that is, he believed in stoicism. A stoic was the person who believed in providential origin of universe which remains in an order. The line of philosophy was founded some time around 300 BC -- about 20-25 years after the time of Alexander. Hard to fathom. But it was the time that was vibrant with the ideas of Socrates and Plato in Greece and Rome.
Seneca was super rich but preached simple, modest living. He enjoyed royal patronage. He was banished from the Roman empire for adultery with emperor Caligula's sister. In some texts, Seneca is said to have been exiled to Corsica, Greece after his run-in with the wife of Claudius, Caligula's successor at the Roman throne.
Seneca was however called back in 49 AD to tutor the prince who would be known to the world as Nero. Seneca is said to have unsuccessfully attempted retirement from politics over his frustration with Nero but he was never practically granted the permission.
Nero's was a horrible time, we have been told by historians. The end to both Nero and his teacher happened in the same manner. Seneca was accused of plotting to murder Nero and forced to die by suicide -- a manner of executing death sentence in ancient Greek and Rome, to which Socrates was subjected.
Nero, the adopted son of Claudius who had married his mother, had angered the upper class of the Roman society and politics by taking measures including behaviour and public appearances as a musician, actor, poet, charioteer, and building places of public entertainment such as amphitheatres and promoting athletics and other games that made him popular among the lower classes of the Roman empire.
In a way, Nero was defamed the elite political class of the Roman empire for catering to the Dalits of the times -- a subaltern polity. Else construction, trade activities and increased taxation of the rich were some of the steps that would have endeared Nero to modern-day critics of politics.
However, the Roman Senate, following a rebellion by influential senators of the time, sentenced him to death for damaging imperial dignity. Nero fled but took his life.
Suicide ended the story of both Sena and Nero, only to be immortalised by subsequent generations albeit with the purpose of ridicule. While Nero is still mostly condemned, Seneca found some renaissance writers who put his philosophy, mostly compilation of Stoic thoughts, into perspective for the world to appreciate his thoughts some of which still resonate with the modern ways of life.
Some of his ideas:
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." (I found TV Series Mentalist's lead character Patrick Jane [played by Simon Baker] saying to Teresa Lisbon [Robin Tunney] while dismissing the idea of luck.)
